Addendum

If there is anyone out there reading this blog, then the reader needs to look to the right of this screen, click on June entries, then go to the June 13 entry titled " I Wish I'd Known Him Then."
You will see that I wrote about Don's childhoold and his love of games as a way to entertain himself.

Yesterday evening we were going to meet Debra and Rod for supper at Bob Evan's . We drove
through the neighborhood where Don grew up. I asked, "Was this the field where you played
baseball?"

"No, that field is south about a block close to Nicholson File plant. That is where the neighborhood kids played baseball. We even had a league and a schedule of games. We called the league "The Block League." Someone of us always called in the results of our games to the newspaper, and the newspaper even published the scores and team standings."

"Wow, you were really organized. How many kids were there, and how many teams in your neighborhood?"

Very seriously Don replied, "Well, there was ONLY ONE KID ON EACH TEAM." And let me
repeat that he said this very seriously with a straight face!

Of course, I found this very funny and had a good laugh! "How did you play baseball with only one kid on each team?"

"One kid(team) pitched and fielded the ball. The other kid(team) batted the ball. We drew lines on the field. If you hit the ball past line one without it being caught, then you hit a single, past line two was a double, past line three was a a triple, and, of course, out of the park was a home run. Very simple."

" And they put these results in the newspaper?"

" Yes, that is pretty funny, isn't it? But one of us would phone Red Haven, the sports editor, and he always put in the scores and standings of "The Block League." We had 500 lap and 200 lap bicycle races in another field. He put those results in, too."

Well, now I am on a mission to go to the newspaper office and search the microfiche files for the late 1940's, and see if I can find "The Block League" scores.

Don also said that he just took off in the mornings, would be gone all day (except for meals), and no one seemed to worry about where he was or what he was doing. He just set out on his carefree adventures. I asked if he ever did anything wrong, or got into trouble.

"No. I just always had fun and took care of myself."

This story reminds us sadly that our generation enjoyed a much safer, more innocent world.
And I think it shows that a person's character is simply there even when they are children.
Don just wouldn't think of doing the wrong things.

It is also a little lesson to kids who are so bored in this world if they don't have all their electronic gadgets and entertainment. The kids on "The Block" had only a bike, a ball, and a bat. And they had a whole wonderful summer of entertainment.

AND THEY GOT THEIR NAMES IN THE PAPER, TOO!